Mondo Generator – We Stand Against You
Mondo Generator – We Stand Against You
Heavy Psych Sounds
Release Date: 13/10/23
Running Time: 20:39
Review by Dark Juan
7/10
It is ten-past-three on a Sunday in Yorkshire as I write this, and it is now the hour that my dogs try to convince me that they have not been fed this morning, even though I know they have because I fucking DID IT. Mrs Dark Juan is currently creating something absolutely unsettling, embroidered as a commission for a client and I am contemplating what I am going to make for tea and whether or not I should have a beer while I am doing it. I think the beer is somewhat fucking inevitable, to be fair, as I am still racked with a hacking cough and feel like a bag of hammered shit, and I must go back to wrangling young people tomorrow after returning from a sojourn to Scotland and Dark Juan doesn’t want to. If only there were some way of making people interested in my dad bod and odd sense of humour because the way I feel I’d be all over OnlyFans like a fucking cheap suit, getting my baps out for the ladies and gentlemen who appreciate other chaps. Ditto the intersex people and everyone else who would like to subscribe to Dark Juan’s new and worryingly unsexy online porn empire. Knowing my luck, I’d probably end up paying people to subscribe because Dark Juan is by no means what you would call attractive. Mrs Dark Juan thinks I am, but she is a) biased, b) has to say so, c) almost blind and d) possessed of poor taste in men. Even she says that the features on my face are in the wrong places. However, even I have to admit that I am the possessor of a frankly otherworldly perfect arse.
This does not concern your least-favourite ersatz rock Metal hack though, because Dark Juan is a master of wit and repartee and can write record reviews as naturally as breathing, which is why I have activated the leather and stud covered Platter Of Splatter™ and have decided to pay attention to the latest release from my musical twin brother, Nick Oliveri, and his band Mondo Generator instead. My fellow, now also greying, beardy weirdy says this about Mondo Generator’s latest work, “We Stand Against You is nine songs of fire, fury, (for some reason, Word absolutely loves superfluous Oxford commas, like that one, and I am literally along for the ride because it gets upset if I countermand it) and angst! Some of the songs reflect my personal thoughts, some are about family and close friends dying or committing suicide and some are about my experience with the Corona[virus] lockdowns. This is a record of real emotion and not for the weak.”
Quite. The record opens with Nick telling pretty much everyone to fuck off and asserting that he trusts no-one. ‘I Stand Against You/ Blast Off’ kicks the record off and immediately starts swaggering around your headspace being an annoying snotty three-chord Punk bastard, absolutely off his tits on Billy, railing against everything and gobbing at your feet and spoiling for a fight. This is a Very Good Thing. It’s not what I was expecting though. I was expecting some incredibly stoned out of their gourd Stoner Rock and I have the scuzziest, fuzziest Punk hammering my brainpan instead – ‘Rubber Room’ being a speedy, uncompromising blast from start to finish. ‘One Two Three Four’ is rather different though, having a real QOTSA vibe going on. A vaguely Eastern sounding guitar riff and a heavy bottom end dial down the Punk and give the listener a real Alt-Rock feel instead, with some intriguingly placed backing vocals in the mix. They sit low in the mix but clear and are ethereal in parts and in your face in others. ‘Unglued’, however, returns to a more pure Punk blueprint – Oliveri’s association with Dwarves really shows through in the music on this song, whereas ‘Death March’ harks more towards the Alt-Metal of the likes of Rollins Band – all spit-spluttering snarling and vituperativeness over music that is bass-led and kind of funky in its own way and this kind of strange Punk/ Alt-Metal hybrid continues on ‘Conspiracy (Fact Or Theory)’, being a staccato one-two punch in the guts until the middle eight where Dark Juan just cant help being reminded of the music of Queens Of The Stone Age and Mark Lanegan. ‘I Want Out’ owes rather more to Black Sabbath than you would immediately think with a central riff that is not a million miles away from ‘Sweet Leaf,’ overlaid with some frankly worrying unhinged wailing and growling from Nick Oliveri.
Oliveri’s bass work is absolutely on point throughout the entire album, and the production is a studiedly lo-fi effort which relies on fuzzy, soft-edged sounds and a real DIY aesthetic where the drums sound like they have been recorded in a different, better studio than the guitar and bass. I do want to address the fact that Nick Oliveri’s staring, demented stream-of-consciousness, frequently insane singing does become wearing at times. Sometimes the music would be better suited to him just actually fucking singing rather than playing at being the Clown Prince of Punk and just being completely over-the-top. I mean the man never comes down from massively overstimulated, amphetamine-fuelled mentalism at all on “We Stand Against You” and it is all a bit knackering for the listener. Especially when you are subjected to nine songs in just over twenty minutes.
To summarise then: This is an excellent record on first listen, but if you listen to it a lot, you’re going to get a bit bored of unbalanced, berserk howling that is curiously and unusually unsatisfying, despite the quality of the performances on the record, which are frighteningly committed from the whole band. One for the true fans, I feel.
The Patented Dark Juan Blood Splat Rating System awards Mondo Generator 7/10 for an album that has all the right stuff yet lacks something to Dark Juan.
TRACKLISTING:
01. I Stand Against You / Blast Off
02. Rubber Room
03. One Two Three Four
04. Unglued
05. Death March
06. Conspiracy (Death or Theory)
07. I Want Out
08. Sky Valley Meth
09. For A Day
LINE-UP:
Nick Oliveri – Bass, vocals
Mike Pygmie – Guitars
Mike Amster – Drums
LINKS:
Disclaimer: This review is solely the property of Dark Juan and Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of both parties. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.
